This week, Debi was joined by Sam Oriza, volunteer leader at Dream City Church.

Debi and Sam discuss Sam's college experience at a Christian college in the Pacific Northwest during the height of the lockdowns. Sam discusses how she was raised in a Christian home but when she went away to college, she quickly realized that even at a Christian school, the worldview of students, professors and administration was vastly different from hers. She talks about educating herself in the area of civics and the challenges of starting a TPUSA chapter on her campus.

Sam will be joining Debi as a guest co-host for the next several episodes!

To find educational PragerU videos on civics, economics and history visit https://www.prageru.com/

To find out how to start a TPUSA chapter at your school or church visit https://www.prageru.com/

To Find out more about Dream City Church https://dreamcitychurch.us

Please follow Into the Fire podcast on your favorite podcast platform, give us a 5-star rating and leave a review!

This week, Debi was joined by Robert and Jennifer Oriza, volunteer leaders at Dream City Church.

Robert, Jennifer and Debi discuss being salt and light. They discuss the importance of serving in the local church and how much God uses our service to help us grow in our relationship with him. Serving also helps us figure out our gifts and our calling. They also discuss being engaged in the community, including in the government. Robert and Jennifer also discuss how and why they got involved in the civic arena, and ways that you can step in to new areas of involvement in 2025.

This is the last episode of 2024. Have a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas. Please go back and re-listen to your favorite episodes, share with others and plan to join us for more civics and culture in 2025!

To find out more about the Phoenix Dream Center, visit https://phoenixdreamcenter.org/

To check out Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/0KHkL0K

To Find out more about Dream City Church https://dreamcitychurch.us

Please follow Into the Fire podcast on your favorite podcast platform, give us a 5-star rating and leave a review!

This week, Debi was joined by State Representative and outgoing Speaker of the House, Ben Toma

Debi and Representative Toma discuss why it is so important that people of faith serve in office. Representative Toma is a Christian, family man, business owner, and volunteer at his local church. Who stepped up years ago to run for office. Debi and Rep. Toma talk about what the Speaker of the House does, what happens at the state legislature, and how to work with others who hold differing views while maintaining your own personal convictions. Representative Toma also shares some of his family's personal stories of facing religious persecution and escaping Communism in Romania to come to the US and how that has shaped his view of government.

Ben's mother released a new book about their reliance on faith through escaping Communism and then losing a child. You can find it on Amazon here.
https://a.co/d/8Bcm3zJ

To Find out more about Dream City Church https://dreamcitychurch.us

Please follow Into the Fire podcast on your favorite podcast platform, give us a 5-star rating, and leave a review!

This week, Debi was joined by Renee Matchet, co-pastor at the Glendale campus of Dream City Church.

This past election season, so much of the messaging and the political ads were targeted at women. However, it was a warped and anti-biblical version of womanhood. The messaging was designed to push the idea of a need for abortion, being a girl boss and despising men. It was basically a full display of modern-day feminism.

Renee and Debi discuss the damage of this message to women and to men. They each discuss their own story of coming to know Jesus and finding their identity in Christ. They discuss God's view of women and talk about education, career, motherhood, and the power of our words to build up or tear down. They also discuss some of their favorite women in the Bible from Esther to Mary to Jael and how God designed each of us uniquely to fulfill our own calling.

To Find out more about Dream City Church https://dreamcitychurch.us

Please follow Into the Fire podcast on your favorite podcast platform, give us a 5-star rating and leave a review!

Debi and Alison discuss the Christian roots of our nation and why the "separation of church and state" is not part of our laws. They discuss the very clear biblical roots in our founding and our founding documents. They talk about the Christian roots of education and of medicine in this nation. Our current state of decline is directly related to the removal of biblical values from public institutions. As Christians, we must begin to take back these institutions and we must be salt and light in America, including voting wisely.

To visit the National Archives go to https://www.archives.gov/

To do more research or to learn more about Patriot Academy go to https://www.patriotacademy.com/To bring biblical civics to your church or small group go to https://www.womenforfamiliesandfreedom.org/

To Find out more about Dream City Church https://dreamcitychurch.us

Please follow Into the Fire podcast on your favorite podcast platform, give us a 5-star rating and leave a review!

This week, Debi was joined by Harrison and Lauren Russell. Harrison is the worship pastor at the Phoenix campus of Dream City Church and Lauren works in the Communications department.

This is an extended episode because Harrison and Lauren have such an incredible story to share. Hear their testimony from childhood sweethearts to marriage, and parenthood. Along the way, there were some undiagnosed health issues and a difficult pregnancy. Listen as they tell the story of their walk of faith through unexpected pregnancy challenges, looming questions, frightening predictions by doctors, and more than one recommendation to consider terminating one of the twins. With so much of the focus in this election season being placed on the claim that there is a "medical need" for abortion, this is a timely story of choosing faith over fear and seeing God move!

For information on the NO on Prop 139 campaign visit https://www.itgoestoofar.com/

Listen to Harrison's worship album Sound of Heaven (Live) on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/album/1cKcNXA6Th4LkmcZmo7kQ5?si=vqvTkze_S8eNNwNwPZUf7A

To Find out more about Dream City Church https://dreamcitychurch.us

Please follow Into the Fire podcast on your favorite podcast platform, give us a 5-star rating, and leave a review!

This week, Debi was joined by her youngest daughter, Eden Vandenboom.

Stats about Gen Z, especially for girls show that they are more depressed, more suicidal, have lower rates of faith and higher rates of mental illness and LGBTQ plus self-identification than previous generations, even more so than Gen Z boys. Debi and Eden take an intergenerational look at why this is the case, and where we go from here. They also talk about the election season and what kinds of messaging are targeting young women her age who are new voters.

We hope this episode gives you an inside look at how it is possible to bridge the gap between generations, to have deep conversations and build up the young adult generation to fulfill the purpose God has for them at this time in history.

To read information from the Barna Research Group about Gen Z go to https://www.barna.com/research/gen-z-2024/

To Find out more about Dream City Church https://dreamcitychurch.us

Please follow Into the Fire podcast on your favorite podcast platform, give us a 5-star rating, and leave a review!

This week, Debi was joined by Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy.

Cathi and Debi discussed the importance of voting the entire ballot. So much attention is paid to offices like the president and US Senator, but the rest of the ballot is also crucial. Cathi talked about the slim pro-life, pro-family majority at the state legislature. Debi and Cathi also talked about judges, school boards, and county races explaining why each is important and where to find resources to help you choose candidates. This is a great episode to share with others in AZ. Alison is still out due to the election season, but will return soon!

To learn more about the Center for Arizona Policy and sign up for their alerts, visit https://www.azpolicy.org

To view the AZ voter guide go to https://www.azvoterguide.com/

For information on the NO on Prop 139 campaign visit https://www.itgoestoofar.com/

To Find out more about Dream City Church https://dreamcitychurch.us

Please follow Into the Fire podcast on your favorite podcast platform, give us a 5-star rating, and leave a review!